Recently formed startup Quantum Space<\/b> plans to open access to and understanding of Geostationary Orbit (GEO) and Cislunar orbit with its upcoming missions. Quantum Space CSO Phil Bracken spoke to Via Satellite during the Small Satelite conference about the company\u2019s progress since closing its Series A round last year. <\/p>\n
Describing GEO as a \u201ccritical resource,\u201d Bracken said the company is developing a fleet of in-orbit logistics and payload hosting vehicles called \u201cRangers,\u201d and smaller multi-purpose vehicles called \u201cScouts\u201d to provide communications and data collection. Both spacecraft systems are designed to work together to form QuantumNet, an edge computing network to support communications in GEO. <\/p>\n
\u201cQuantum has been looking at how to bring better communications to GEO, in between GEO and the Moon. We\u2019ve been looking at how to make logistics more affordable for transportation for customers. On the data side, we\u2019re looking at how to protect and provide insights on all of the different activities of customers in that area,\u201d Bracken says. <\/p>\n
The Ranger vehicle is designed to transport rideshare payloads, from cubesats to larger OTVs, up to 1500 kg to GEO and 2500 kg to cislunar orbits. The first Ranger OTV mission launch is set for 2025.<\/p>\n
But Quantum Space\u2019s first mission is set for early next year; it will be launching demonstration Scouts to Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) to test its sensing technology. <\/p>\n
In order to move faster on its manufacturing, Quantum Space is working on partnerships with for turnkey integration and spacecraft build facilities near its headquarters in the Rockville, Maryland\/Washington, D.C. area, instead of building its own manufacturing facility. <\/p>\n
Quantum Space was founded by Kam Ghaffarian, who also co-founded Axiom Space, Intuitive Machines, and X-energy. <\/p>\n
The U.S. government and the national security market is a large target customer for Quantum Space. Bracken sees a renewed interest in the security of GEO. <\/p>\n
\u201cGEO is such a unique resource and there is interest in using it for refueling stops. It\u2019s interesting to customers for sensing missions, and very interesting to the U.S. government,\u201d Bracken says. \u201cAggressors could use the Moon to come back to GEO. They can do some unique things where they \u201chide out\u201d there and swing back to GEO. GEO continues to be a focus.\u201d<\/p>\n
The company is working to build an infrastructure for GEO to capitalize on growing interest in the orbit, both government and commercial. \u201cHere at Smallsat, we\u2019re hearing more and more interest in coming to GEO \u2014 and it\u2019s not just it\u2019s not just for government missions, it\u2019s for [commercial] uses.\u201d <\/p>\n
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Recently formed startup Quantum Space plans to open access to and understanding of Geostationary Orbit (GEO) and Cislunar orbit with its upcoming missions. Quantum Space CSO Phil Bracken spoke to Via Satellite during the Small Satelite conference about the company\u2019s progress since closing its Series A round last year. Describing GEO as a \u201ccritical resource,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48172,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52958"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}